My Diary

[abrahammer117]

Day 78: posting here. Main guideline, focus on what's wanted with scant attention to unwanted
Day 25: 2hrs sitting in silence (no lying down)
Day 17: No random internet of any kind at work. Remember how harmful it is to well-being
Day 13: Only Check email twice a day. 1.30pm and 4.30pm. Excess checking so harmful to well-being
Day 7: Tim Ferris slow carb diet (as much as I can)

Focusing on wanted... things feel like they are going really well. So so much less resistance in my mind when it comes to money and work
Main thing I would like is to keep leaning in the direction of slowing down and being more present

[abrahammer117]

Day 79: posting here. Main guideline, focus on what's wanted with scant attention to unwanted
Stage 3; Day 1: Dopamine fasting until 9.45am every morning. ( good activities, sitting in silence, reading, exercise, meditation)
Day 18: No random internet of any kind at work. Remember how harmful it is to well-being
Day 14: Only Check email twice a day. 1.30pm and 4.30pm. Excess checking so harmful to well-being
Day 8: Tim Ferris slow carb diet (as much as I can)

Focusing on the wanted side of things... still so helpful so say that!
I want to keep feeling better and to find more pleasure in more things ( have more fun more of the time I suppose )
I like how Andrew Hubermann described addiction as 'the progressive narrowing of things that give you pleasure' - I feel like following the Ab Hicks path is leading me away more and more from addictive behaviour and I'm getting a progressive widening of things that give me pleasure.

I felt inspired to read my novel this morning and to go to the gym for a little bit. Overall I'm feeling like I need much less 'mental rest' and am getting more excited about thing like reading and exercise.

This video is great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NctsqxuODz8

Oooh something Ab Hicks said that's great 'It feels as good to love and appreciate someone as it does to be loved and appreciated by someone'
I'm finding it easier than ever before to bask in appreciation of my girlfriend and that's a very good feeling place to bask

This isn't really focusing on wanted but if I ever reread this diary this would be an interesting thing to note...
I ended 2023 very scatty and stressed, always feeling I need to be constantly pushing myself in order to stay afloat at work. When I started 2024 I knew that I wanted to get back on that trail of emotional relief and that the New Years holiday would give me an chance to start.
Quite quickly I found that reading Ab Hicks every morning for 45 mins reliably led to some emotional relief every morning, even if it was for a short time... but I was on that yellow brick road. This carried on for about 75 days and meant that I was still on an emotional upward trajectory despite a financially shaky February. In fact I really enjoyed valuing my improving emotional state in the face of apparent stagnating physical manifestations (knowing it will turnaround once I'm ready, and it has lol). Amazingly there was one day when I stopped feeling any relief from reading Hicks every morning, it kinda hurt the brain just to open it. And then I started my sitting in silence phase with no books phones or anything - the mental rest phase - and it was wonderful. Every day I would feel some relief in those hours of just sitting in silence getting that brain rest. Now! After playing with it for a few days, I feel like I'm in the third stage of this year where I'm not really feeling the relief from the sitting, no longer excited to go do it. I definitely want to carry on the 'dopamine fasting' aspects of my mornings but am getting relief from reading a novel, doing a bit more exercise and meditation etc.

[spiritualcookie]

Thanks for sharing that great Bashar clip - I needed that reminder today

[abrahammer117]

Thanks for sharing that great Bashar clip - I needed that reminder today

you're very welcome - glad you like it!

It's fun to scan my memory for Hicks talking about something similar to that 'testing period' from life.
The closest I can think of in memory is that she's talked about people not staying consistently enough on the path of feeling better until they really get into a place of 'knowing' and then the vortex stuff pops in. Or from 'getting into the vortex' - you have to let your improved emotion BE the evidence of your progress in order for your progress to continue

[abrahammer117]

Day 80: posting here. Main guideline, focus on what's wanted with scant attention to unwanted
Stage 4; Day 2: Dopamine fasting until 9.45am every morning. ( good activities: sitting in silence, reading, exercise, meditation)
Day 8: Tim Ferris slow carb diet (as much as I can)
Day 1/1: Enjoy an Ab Hicks 15 meditation every day
Reminder: Good things happen to me

Focusing on wanted side of things:
I want to acknowledge that I'm still doing really well at this. My average mood is still creeping up and I want to look forward to it creeping up more and more.
I want to slow down at work and take more pleasure in things. I want to feel even more optimistic about finances.

...

the better I feel the more I enjoy the Ab hicks meditations. The abundance one is particularly poignant for me.
The reason I'm enjoying them more is I'm finding it much easier to enjoy the deep breathing - which then makes it easier for the mind to clear and for the words in the Audio to land in a good way

[abrahammer117]

Day 80: posting here. Main guideline, focus on what's wanted with scant attention to unwanted
Stage 4; Day 2: Dopamine fasting until 9.45am every morning. ( good activities: sitting in silence, reading, exercise, meditation)
Day 8: Tim Ferris slow carb diet (as much as I can)
Day 2/2: Enjoy an Ab Hicks 15 meditation every day
Day 1/1: Morning routine, cold shower / breakfast / meditation / reading / no coffee
Day 1/1: 5 minutes jogging twice a day. Once in morning and once at start of evening.
Day 1/1: Read novel before sleep
Reminder: Good things happen to me
Reminder: If I enjoy my 15 mins Ab meditation in the morning, I've taken care of all that needs to be taken care of
Reminder: How I feel is more important than what I do
Reminder: Am I taking pleasure from this moment (or chasing the next)

Focusing on wanted....
I'd like to feel the benefits of slowing down a lot more and enjoying the moment whilst at work particularly. And following bad impulses less e.g. needless email checking, extra coffees / changing focus mid task. Today I have a day off and would like to really recover from the scattiness of yesterday

Overall though, average mood still creeping up!

....

It's 5.30 pm on my day off. There's things that I always go back to during really happy periods in my life and jogging is one of them. From a Hicks point of view I am doing the pleasant daydreaming first and not taking action until it feels fun. Today for the first time in months I really enjoyed a short jog. What felt best in my thinking was 5 minutes a day so I've just done that. I'm really loving how it feels after it. Surprisingly loving it. I'm looking forward to my 5 minutes tomorrow morning.
I'm thinking twice a day for 5 minutes would be amazing, once to start the day and once to start the evening. The thing I most like about this , which is very Hicks, is it puts me in a better mood and then everything after will benefit. Hmmmm excited

In addition, yesterday at work I had a happy productive day but got very very scatty and impulsive - constantly checking email, switching job mid task etc. I could really feel the fall out when I got home and for most of today. It leaves me with like an 'eye headache' and 'haze'. This disappears the moment I take cold shower but returns quite quick. It disappears if I sit still and really relax. It disappeared the moment I started jogging and is a lot better since I got back

[abrahammer117]

Day 81: posting here. Main guideline, focus on what's wanted with scant attention to unwanted
Stage 3; Day 2: Dopamine fasting until 9.45am every morning. ( good activities: sitting in silence, reading, exercise, meditation)
Day 9: Tim Ferris slow carb diet (as much as I can)
Day 3/3: Enjoy an Ab Hicks 15 meditation every day
Day 2/2: Morning routine, cold shower / breakfast / meditation / reading / no coffee
Day 2/2: 5 minutes jogging twice a day. Once in morning and once at start of evening.
Day 2/2: Read novel before sleep
Day 1/1: Days without YouTube
Reminder: Good things happen to me
Reminder: If I enjoy my 15 mins Ab meditation in the morning, I've taken care of all that needs to be taken care of
Reminder: How I feel is more important than what I do

Focusing on wanted... I want to continue feeling better. I want to believe that feeling better is the best thing I can do for all areas of my life.
I want applaud myself for how far I've come this year.

Right now I have a strong sinus headache, it feels like withdrawal - probably from a mixture of detoxing and the brain getting used to constantly reducing level of cheap dopamine hits. Could also be keto flu
I'm on day 9 of Tim Ferris slow carb diet and I love it so much. I'm already about 1lb lighter and have lost about 2cm off my waist line.
As always happens on this diet - food tastes better and feel better and I never get cravings I only get a bit hungry, but hungry for actual food.

[abrahammer117]

Day 82: posting here. Main guideline, focus on what's wanted with scant attention to unwanted
Stage 3; Day 2: Dopamine fasting until 9.45am every morning. ( good activities: sitting in silence, reading, exercise, meditation)
Day 10: Tim Ferris slow carb diet (as much as I can)
Day 3: Morning routine, cold shower / breakfast / Ab Hicks meditation / reading / no coffee
Day 3: 5 minutes jogging twice a day. Once in morning and once at start of evening.
Day 1: Morning reading, 15 mins fiction, 15 mins Ab Hicks. Just before sleep, 10 mins fiction 10 mins Ab Hicks
Day 2/2: Days without YouTube
Reminder: Good things happen to me
Reminder: Don't say 'I want to see more money', say instead 'I want to feel my financial well-being'
Reminder: How I feel is more important than what I do

I am continuing to see gradual improvements in all sorts of things. The area I'd most like to release resistance is money and I can feel it's gradually improving.
It really comes down to belief - that my mind is always pulling back towards worrying and trying hard being the best thing - and Ab Hicks saying that believing and trusting and feeling good is the best thing as the well-being MUST flow in if your a match. I've been self employed now for over 2 years and have swung back and forth on this and I've love it if it I now really swing consistently into feeling financially well.

I've been missing reading Hicks so I read some this morning and it felt good again. I won't go back to reading Hicks for 45mins but I feel like a 'minimum effective dose' of 10 or 15 mins every morning would be great.

A really really good sign is that various cravings are going away - like a craving for YouTube videos or checking on football or random news etc.
I can feel that the less my mind wants to go those things for 'hits' the more pleasure it can find in everything else.

I'm very excited to buy a bedside lamp so I can do my evening reading properly

[spiritualcookie]

Reminder: Don't say 'I want to see more money', say instead 'I want to feel my financial well-being'

I use:
- Abundance (/financial well-being) flows to me more and more
- I am intending seeing more and more abundance flowing my way every day in every way
- I am intending perfect relaxation, and as I relax, I allow in more and more financial well-being

I also let go of limiting my abundance to only flow to me through my work, and am accepting that it can flow in, in unexpected ways, outside the box too. (Like the time you attracted that free chocolate cake! )

[abrahammer117]

Reminder: Don't say 'I want to see more money', say instead 'I want to feel my financial well-being'

I use:
- Abundance (/financial well-being) flows to me more and more
- I am intending seeing more and more abundance flowing my way every day in every way
- I am intending perfect relaxation, and as I relax, I allow in more and more financial well-being

I also let go of limiting my abundance to only flow to me through my work, and am accepting that it can flow in, in unexpected ways, outside the box too. (Like the time you attracted that free chocolate cake! )

thanks - that's all excellent! Feels very good to read
It feels so good to believe it. That bad feeling voice in my head which says believing this is a bad idea - I'm taking Abs advice and laughing at it and it's helping me tip into enjoying the good feeling of believing this more and more